Alabama Teen Shot in Head During Home Invasion Prank

October 15, 2012

(NEW YORK) — A 15-year-old Alabama boy was in critical condition Sunday after he was shot in the head by a friend during a prank that police said went terribly wrong.

Jesse Rainey, 15, and seven male friends were spending the weekend at an unoccupied home that belonged to the grandmother of one of the boys, when a few of the teens decided to prank their friends by faking a home intrusion, Colbert County Sheriff Ronnie May told ABC News.

“One of the young men cut the lights to the house, then a few of the other guys snuck back inside, wanting their friends to believe there was an intruder,” May said.

The teens were in the process of using flashlights to find the switch box, when Rainey jumped out of a closet.

His rattled friend immediately dropped a video game and fired a shot into Rainey’s head with a .38 caliber hand gun.

May called the shooting “accidental” and said after interviewing all of the boys and conferring with the district attorney’s office, no charges will be filed. Drugs and alcohol were also not a factor in the shooting.

The teens called 911 at 3:30 a.m. Saturday. Dispatchers were unable to find the rural home on a map, so the boys put Rainey in the bed of a pickup truck and drove him 10 minutes to a Midway convenience store. They were met there by sheriff’s deputies and a medical team, May said.

Rainey was taken to Helen Keller Hospital, where he was stabilized before being transferred to the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Ala.

May said the boys are all close friends who attend Colbert Heights High School together.